OHNY 2012 Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my 10th year volunteering at the 10th annual Open House New York. The volunteer meeting was at the beautiful Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue. This year, my volunteer job was a "bus woman's" holiday. I did the check in for fellow Guide's Association member Bob Gelber's Central Park tour. There were people from Sweden and Canada as well as the other 4 boroughs, Connecticut and NJ. A fun time was had by all.

I headed to my reservation for the Newtown Creek WasteWater Treatment Plant ("eggs") tour. The lecture and the views were great! To learn more about our water supply you can go to the Department of Environmental Protection's website or Facebook page. (Or sign up for next year's tour).

Afterwards, I remembered I was in Greenpoint. Several years ago I took a Noshwalks Greenpoint tour and my favorite place was the candy store. I googled Polish Chocolate Store Greenpoint and ended up here. I bought about a half pound of assorted candies and unfortunately finished them before the end of my day. So much for diets.

(View from the top of the egg.) Sunday started with a backstage tour of the newly renovated Public Theater. As someone who saw the first season of the Public many many moons ago - The original HAIR was one of the shows - this was a fabulous tour. The rest of you can visit during their open house Oct 13th. There is a new restaurant space in the building - The Library. Could not get a reservation for next week because of a party but a friend and I will sample the cuisine at Joe's Pub instead - same kitchen. Joe Papp's latest biography Free For All is on my bookshelf waiting to be read.

Then I headed to the Kings County Distillery tour in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This place is a must visit if you are near the York Street stop on the F train on a Saturday when they give tours. Actually bought some moonshine to take home. Then I walked through the Navy Yard for the first time and ran into another tour guide volunteer (after spending years pointing out its location from the top of a night loop bus) to the new museum in Building 92. Wonderful exhibit on the history of the Navy and the Naval Yard and the neighborhood with a really nice cafe inside as well.

I started heading back to the East Side of Manhattan using hop stop and walking directions to the subway were not wonderful (I should have just gone back to the F York St stop near the distillery). Rather than continue to the A train after a couple of backtracks because of lack of sidewalk on busy roads, I walked the Brooklyn Bridge to the 4 train instead. The construction is still blocking the view and pedestrians are still causing trouble in the bike lanes but it is still a fun walk.

I keep saying I will retire from volunteering at OHNY but actually next year I want to lead a North End of Central Park walk. Hope to see you then if not before. Where did you go this year?